With war raging in Europe, conflict also reigns in the Far East between two traditional enemies, Japan and an internally-divided China. On December 11, 1915, the first president of the new Chinese republic, Yuan Shih-kai, who had come to power in the wake of revolution in 1911 and the fall of the Manchu Dynasty in 1912, accepts the title of emperor of China.

Japan had declared war on Germany in August 1914, capturing the most important German overseas naval base at Tsingtao, on China’s Shantung peninsula, by amphibious assault. In January 1915, Japan’s imperialist-minded foreign minister, Kato Takaaki, presented China with the so-called 21 Demands, which included the extension of direct Japanese control over more of Shantung, southern Manchuria, and eastern Inner Mongolia and the seizure of more territory, including islands in the South Pacific controlled by Germany.

If accepted in their entirety, the 21 Demands would have essentially reduced China to a Japanese protectorate. Though Yuan, a former general and China’s president since February 1912, when he succeeded Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Kuomintang (KMT) or Nationalist Peoples’ party, was forced to accept all but the most radical of the demands, he attempted to use Chinese anger over them to justify his bid for restoring the monarchy and installing himself as emperor. Having already dismissed the Chinese parliament and expelled the KMT party from the government, he was now ruling through provincial military governors throughout the country. The return to monarchy was met by such strong opposition within and outside of China, including from some of those same military governors, that Yuan was quickly forced to return the country to the republican form of government. He died in 1916.

The 11th Battalion, The Suffolk Regiment - (The Cambs Suffolks) - The First Three Months

On the 11th December, 1914 the strength had reached 1,191 and the required headcount had been raised to 1,350. This included 250 as the core of a new depot company. The previous week 41 men had joined. Meanwhile the War Office had approached the Territorial Force Association on the subject of the Regiment to which the Cambridgeshire Battalion should belong. A choice between Norfolk and Suffolk was offered and Col. Somerset chose the latter. Major Stanle had previously served in the Suffolk Militia.

On the friday after the 11th December the Battalion moved to new hut barracks on Cherry Hinton Meadow. Most officers remained billeted in their rooms at University or in University lodging houses. The officers mess was in the hall of Kings where 8 officers had lived in studied.

So ended 1914. It was to be another 13 months before the Battalion moved overseas and 18 months before its day of tragedy on the Somme battlefield.

Report by the fleet surgeon on HMS Kent on casualties in the Battle of the Falklands, 11 December 1914.

On 8 December 1914, a British naval force under Vice Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee earned a decisive victory over its German counterpart off the coast of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. This report graphically describes the six deaths and ten injuries that occurred on the armoured cruiser HMS Kent during the action. Severe burns were the most common cause of death or serious injury. The surgeon gave four of the ten wounded men little chance of ultimate recovery.

The Royal Air Force roundel is a circular identification mark painted on aircraft to identify them to other aircraft and ground forces. In one form or another, it has been used on British military and naval aircraft from 1915 to the present.

When the First World War started in 1914 it was the habit of ground troops to fire on all aircraft, friend or foe, which encouraged the need for some form of identification mark. At first the Union Flag was painted under the wings and on the sides of the fuselage. It soon became obvious that at a distance the St George's Cross of the Union Flag could be confused with the Iron Cross that was already being used to identify German aircraft. After the use of a Union Flag inside a shield was tried it was decided to follow the lead of the French who used a tricolour Cockade (a roundel of red and white with a blue centre). The British reversed the colours and it became the standard marking on Royal Flying Corps aircraft from 11 December 1914.

From early in the war, it was clear that the inspection and care of POWs would be a monumental task for the U.S. government. Anderson, in a report written in December 1914, focused on the organization of relief work across Europe:

If the Government of the United States, as seems inevitable, is called upon to undertake the administration of this work on behalf of the governments whose interests are entrusted to its care in enemy territory, some systematic and organized method of carrying it on should be established in each country. The work will naturally be under the direction of the American Ambassador in the several countries where the interests of all the belligerents are entrusted to his care, and in those countries where some of the belligerents are represented by the Spanish Ambassador, some plans for cooperation will be necessary, but in all of the belligerent countries the work will be so extensive, and of such a character, that it cannot successfully be dealt with by an embassy staff. If will probably involve the purchasing of large quantities of supplies of various kinds, and their delivery at a large number of camps widely separated, many of which are in inaccessible places, and the distribution of these supplies among soldiers of different nationalities interned in these camps. It will also involve the handling of and accounting for considerable sums of money, and the apportionment among the different nations of the expenditure made on their account. The American Consular Service in each country will be available, and can conveniently be used for a good deal of this work in connection with the work of keeping the several governments informed about the treatment of prisoners in these camps, but some special organization will be necessary to take charge of the purchasing of supplies and the keeping of accounts.30

Note 30: Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1915, Supplement, "Activities of the United States in Regard to Prisoners of War and Interned Civilians: The American General Plan for Inspection and Relief." "The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State," London, 11 December 1914, Enclosure: "Mr. Chandler P. Anderson to the American Ambassador in Great Britain (Page)," London, 3 December 1914, Subenclosure: Chandler P. Anderson, "Memorandum concerning the treatment by belligerents of detained enemy aliens and prisoners of war, and the relief work undertaken through the American Embassies in belligerent countries, " 1 December 1914, 1002.

ITALY'S FINANCES ON A FIRM BASIS;
War Up to Dec. 11, 1915, Had Cost the Country Nearly $800,000,000 PAYING AS SHE FIGHTS Result of a Sound System of Economy and Taxation Begun by Statesmen of an Earlier Day.
By ALEXANDER OLDRINI, Garibaldi Volunteers 1866, Lieutenant French Artillery 1870. (); January 09, 1916

On 11 December 1915 the house at number 43 Gasthuisstraat (at that time the street was called by its French name - Rue de l'Hopital) opened its doors for the first time, welcoming British soldiers to a new club.

The large house was owned by a wealthy brewer, Monsieur Coevoet Camerlynck. In the early summer of 1915 some German shrapnel shells had landed in the garden and damaged the rear of the house.

Having removed his family and all his belongings M. Camerlynck was pleased to offer the empty house for rent to the British Army for 150 Francs a month. Two conditions of the lease were that the house was to be made weatherproof and a large safe was to be removed from the front room.

An Army Chaplain the Reverend Philip 'Tubby' Clayton saw a use for the property as a soldier's club. It became a rare place where soldiers could meet and relax regardless of rank. A notice was hung by the front door bearing the message:

The Western Frontier Force makes first strike, and other forces deploy
On 11 December 1915, a hastily collected Western Frontier Force, composed of units currently stationed in Egypt and not employed on the Suez Canal, began to move out from Mersa Matruh under command of Major-General A. Wallace.

Prior to 1906 the Senussi had been a relatively peaceful religious sect of the Sahara Desert, opposed to fanaticism. They then became involved in resistance to the French. In 1911 the Italians invaded Libya, occupying the coast while the Senussi maintained resistance inland and in Cyrenaica. During this period they generally maintained friendly relations with the British in Egypt.

The outbreak of the First World War raised the tension. The Turks made strenuous efforts to persuade the Senussi to attack British occupied Egypt from the west. In the summer of 1915 Turkish envoys, including Nuri Bey, the half brother of Enver Pasha, and Jaafar Pasha, a Baghdadi Arab serving in the Turkish Army. They were eventually successful, convincing the head of the order, Sayyid Ahmed, to begin hostilities against the British with Turkish support.

The original plan was for a three pronged attack on the British. The Senussi would mount attacks along the narrow strip of fertile land on the Egyptian coast, heading towards Alexandria and in the band of oases one hundred miles west of the Nile. At the same time the Emir of Darfur would launch an attack on the Sudan. In the event the three campaigns were fought separately and were defeated in turn.

The coastal campaign began first, in November 1915. The British withdrew from Sollum and Sidi Barrani and concentrated their forces around Mersa Matruh. A Western Frontier Force, under Major-General A. Wallace, was created from the garrison of Egypt, consisting of one cavalry and one infantry brigade, supported by a battery of horse artillery. They were outnumbered by the Senussi, who had 5,000 men quickly trained to fight as regular infantry, supported by a larger number of irregular troops and with a small number of Turkish artillery and machine guns. Despite their advantage of numbers, the Senussi were defeated in encounters at Wadi Senba (11-13 December 1915), Wadi Majid (25 December 1915) and Halazin (23 January 1915).

They were finally defeated at Agagia (26 February), on the coast close to Sollum. The Western Frontier Force had been reinforced by the South African Brigade, under General Lukin. A column under his command was sent west to recapture Sollum, encountering and defeating the Senussi on their way west. Jaafar Pasha was captured during the battle. Sollum was reoccupied on 14 March.

The campaign against the Oases started in February 1916. Sayyid Ahmed occupied the oases at Baharai, Farafra, Dakhla and Kharge, and forced the British to keep a sizable garrison in Upper Egypt while a mobile force was organised to push him back.

In October 1916 a force containing the camel corps and light car units attacked the Senussi positions, forcing them out of Dakhla (17-22 October). Sayyid Ahmed was forced back to his base at Siwa. This British raised a force of armoured cars, and dispatched them to Siwa in February 1917 under the command of Brigadier-General H. W. Hodgeson. This force won an encounter close to Siwa on 3-5 February, forcing Sayyid Ahmed to retreat back into Libya.

His defeat in Egypt fatally undermined Sayyid Ahmed’s position amongst the Senussi. He was soon forced out in favour of his nephew Sayyid Mohammed el Idris, who had opposed the campaign, going into exile in Constantinople. Idris would soon be recognised by the British and Italians as Emir of Cyrenaica, and would eventually become King Idris I of Libya.

1. The problem of the restitution of the Romanian national treasure dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century, the period of World War I. In August 1916 Romania joined the alliance of England, France, Italy and Russia. When the Central Powers then occupied the territory of Romania, the Romanian Government moved to Iasi (Moldavia). The headquarters of the National Bank of Romania also moved there. The safety of its stock of precious metals could not however be assured and the Romanian Government decided to move it to Moscow for safekeeping by Russia. Alternative sites in the UK or Scandinavia were ruled out, as shipment there was vulnerable to German submarines.

2. On 11 December 1916, General Mossoloff, chargé d’affaires a.i. of Russia in Romania, signed, on behalf of the Russian government, guarantees for the safety of the Romanian national treasure “during its transportation and deposit in Moscow”. According to the Romanian-Russian Protocol of 14 December 1916, signed by General Mossoloff and the Finance Minister of Romania, Mr Antonescu, the Imperial Government of Russia gave guarantees for the transport, security of deposit and its return to Romania. Under this agreement 17 train wagons with 1738 crates containing gold bars and coins to the value of 314 580 456. 84 gold lei and two other crates containing the jewellery of Queen Maria to the value of 7 000 000 gold lei were loaded and transported to Moscow. The total value of this first transport was 321 580 456.84 gold lei.

3. After assay and inventory in Moscow, the treasure was deposited in the Arms Hall in the Kremlin, the operation being registered in a Protocol signed on 16 February 1917 by the authorised Romanian and Russian representatives.

4. As the pressure of the war against Romania worsened, a second transfer of treasure was made from Iasi on 27 July 1917 consisting of 188 crates in 3 wagons. The total is variously recorded between 1 594 836 721.09 (probably the correct figure) and 1 519 836 721.09 gold lei (this was made up of gold/metal 574 524.57 gold lei or 574 523.57 gold lei, archives valued at 500 000 lei, and other). By the Romanian-Russian Protocol signed on 27 July 1917 the Russian Government again guaranteed the transport, deposit and transport back to Romania.

5. Also on 27 July 1917, the securities of the Romanian Savings and Loan Bank, comprising 1621 crates containing deposits and savings in trust from banks and private citizens as well as jewellery, art collections, valuable paintings, precious objects estimated at 6 500 000 000.00 gold lei (or 7 500 000 000.00 in certain texts) were transferred to Moscow in 21 wagons and deposited under the guarantee of the Russian Government (again for transport, deposit and transport back to Romania) in the State House for Deposits and Loans of Russia, 3 Nastasinski Street.

6. On 5 August 1917, Romanian and Russian representatives signed in Moscow a protocol regarding the setting up of a new depository in the Kremlin by which the protection of the depository and the return of the entire treasure to Romania were guaranteed by the Russian Government.

7. The depository inventory was made up of 3 549 crates containing the entire metallic stock of gold belonging to the National Bank of Romania; of jewellery belonging to Queen Maria of Romania; of deposits from the Savings and Loan Bank belonging to private citizens, made up of jewellery, bonds, documents, testaments, paintings etc. The overall total was valued at 8 416 417 177.93 gold lei (or 9 416 417 177.93 gold lei). Two sets of keys were needed to open the depository. One set was handed to the representative of the Romanian National Bank, the other was kept by the Russians.

8. In addition to bullion and monetary bonds, the “treasure” sent to Moscow included documents of the Romanian National Archives, documents of the Historical Archives of Brasov, paintings belonging to the Picture Gallery of the Romanian State, museums and different private collections, goods belonging to the “Muntele de Pietate” pawn shop, collections of manuscripts and rare books and the numismatic collection of the Romanian Academy, rare collections of gold, silver and precious stones of the Romanian National Museum of Antiquities and the historical and mediaeval art treasures of the monasteries and churches of Oltenia, Wallachia and Moldavia, of the metropolitan bishoprics of Bucharest and Iasi.

9. After the Bolshevik Revolution in November 1917, the Consul General of Romania in Russia informed the Allied Governments of the risk of Romania losing control of its treasure and tried to find a way of moving it to America. However in January 1918, after Romanian troops had penetrated Bessarabia, the Soviet Government declared a state of war against Romania and imprisoned the Romanian chargé d’affaires and all the legation personnel. In the Resolution of 13 January 1918 of the Soviet of the People’s Commissars the Romanian treasure was declared “intangible by the Romanian oligarchy” and was promised that it “would be returned to the Romanian people”. The Resolution was signed by Lenin.

10. At this point Romanian interests were protected by the Consulate General of France which took possession of the Romanian set of keys to the depository of the treasure along with the original inventory documents. In this capacity, the Consul General of France, along with United Kingdom Consul, intervened on 1 February 1918 upon the People’s Commissary for the Foreign affairs of Soviet Russia, represented by Mr Fritsche, for the protection of the treasure. Despite these interventions, on 27 February 1918 the People’s Commissary for Foreign affairs of Soviet Russia requested that the Consul General of France surrender the keys to the depository. The French Consul General refused to surrender the keys and issued a report on the matter. On 14 March 1918 Mr Fritsche reduced his demand to a temporary surrender of the Romanian keys to enable the opening of the depository doors, and viewing of the treasure in the presence of the French Consul. He presented a written guarantee to the French Consulate stating that “the valuables of the Romania’s Government deposited according to the known protocols will be kept intact”. Under these conditions, the keys were presented to the Soviet representatives who promptly removed eight crates from the depository, claiming that they belonged to the Soviets. After that the keys were returned to the Consul Generalate of France. The eight crates contained banknotes issued by the National Bank of Romania to the value of 1 350 000 gold lei (or 1 920 000 gold lei).

11. In August 1918, when the Consul General of France had been arrested by the Soviet authorities, the treasury keys were remitted to the Consulate General of Denmark, who represented French interests. By then Romanian interests were represented by the Consulate General of Norway. In February 1919, the Danish Consul General passed the keys over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, and later, in 1926, the keys were returned to Romanian hands.

12. The problem of the restitution of the Romanian treasure was raised during the peace negotiations in Paris in 1919-1920, at the international conferences in Genoa in 1922 and in Lausanne (1922-23), as well as during the bilateral Romanian-Soviet talks in Copenhagen (1920), London (December 1920 - January 1921), Warsaw (September 1921) and Vienna (March-April 1924). Despite a decision of the Genoa International Economic Conference that the Russian Soviet Government should return to the Romanian Government the values deposited in Moscow, nothing resulted.

957 Ton Iron Steamer built by Elbing in 1884, managed by Messrs. Everett and Newbiggin for the Admiralty by whom she was requisitioned. Sailed from Newcastle on the 11th December 1917 for London with a cargo of coal. Vessel listed as missing by Lloyds, with public notification published in 'The Times' 21st February 1918.

A race riot began in Houston, Texas, on August 23rd, 1917, when a white civil policeman who was arresting a black soldier hit a black military policeman, Corporal Charles Baltimore, over the head. A rumour spread that Baltimore, a model soldier, had been arrested, and a group of about 100 black soldiers then decided to march on the police station to secure his release.

They were led by Sergeant Vida Henry, and in their two-hour march the mutinous blacks killed 15 whites, including four policemen, and seriously wounded 12 others, one of whom, a policeman, subsequently died. Four black soldiers were killed.

After two hours on the rampage, Sergeant Henry advised the men to slip back into camp under cover of darkness – and then shot himself in the head.

Seven mutineers agreed to testify against the others in exchange for clemency. A total of 110 men were found guilty and 13 were hanged simultaneously during the night of Tuesday, December 11th, 1917, in a field outside Houston. On the gallows Private Frank Johnson sang out, “Lord, I’m Coming Home.” In September 1918, six more soldiers involved in the riot were hanged on the same spot, making 19 in all. Sixty-three received life sentences, but no white soldiers or civilians were brought to trial.

A military struggle for control of Ukraine waged intermittently in 1917–21 by Ukrainian independentist forces and pro-Bolshevik elements seeking to establish Soviet rule. The struggle began shortly after the October Revolution of 1917. Notwithstanding the creation of the Ukrainian National Republic (UNR) on 20 November 1917, the Bolsheviks planned to seize power in Ukraine with the aid of Russian or Russified urban elements, Russian garrisons, and army units stationed near the front. Their armed uprising in Kyiv on 11 December 1917 was unsuccessful, however, and the Bolshevized army units were deported from Ukraine in stages. A pro-Bolshevik force under Yevheniia Bosh moving in on Kyiv was also disarmed by Ukrainian troops under Pavlo Skoropadsky near Zhmerynka and then sent off to Russia.

Walter Mills VC (22 June 1894 - 11 December 1917) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

He was 23 years old, and a private in C Company[1], the 1/10th Battalion, The Manchester Regiment, British Army, manning a position at Red Dragon Crater near Givenchy, France, during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On December 10 / December 11, 1917 at Givenchy, France, after an intense gas attack a strong enemy patrol tried to rush British posts, the garrisons of which had been overcome. Private Mills, although badly gassed himself, met the attack single-handed and continued to throw bombs until the arrival of reinforcements and remained at his post until the enemy had been finally driven off. While being carried away he died of gas poisoning but it was entirely due to him that the enemy was defeated and the line remained intact.

Mills was buried at Gorre British & Indian Cemetery, Nr Bethune, Pas-De-Calais, France.

His VC Medal was buried with his Daughter Ellen, who died in the 1920s.

By 11 May 1917, the first Portuguese units took their place in the frontline, the deployment of the brigades being completed by 5 November of the same year. [7]

Problems started almost immediately. The soldiers hated the British rations and suffered badly during the extremely harsh winter of 1917-1918 (temperatures falling to -22º Centigrade - or -7.6 Fahrenheit), pacifist pamphlets saw widespread circulation in Portugal (not among the soldiers, who were in their overwhelming majority illiterate), the wits taking to calling the CEP "Carneiros de Exportação Portuguesa" - "Portuguese Exported Lambs for the Slaughter"), and morale was rock bottom, since the soldiers didn't feel they were fighting for their homeland far away on the cratered fields of Flanders. This in itself was not unusual in all Armies and home fronts, both increasingly war-weary by 1917. The real problem was that the CEP was denied any sort of replacements to reduce the effects of the attrition (the terrible "wastage" of trench warfare) caused by artillery bombardments, German trench raids (more than once in battalion strength), Portuguese counter-raids, sickness and desertion.

By 6 April 1918, the CEP had already lost 5420 men (1044 of which were killed).

Thus, by 9 April 1918, the Portuguese infantry brigades, whose establishment strength was 4660 officers and men each, were now down to 3679 (3 Brigade), 3270 (4 Brigade), 3053 (5 Brigade), and only 2999 (6 Brigade, only half of whose officers remained) troops. The CEP was lacking 5639 men on its infantry brigades alone. With these severely depleted brigades, the CEP had to man three successive lines of trenches and a further line of defence based around local villages to the rear, for a total of 40 km (over 24 miles). [8]

The exact reason why the CEP didn't receive the replacements sorely needed to hold all of these lines is somewhat contentious.

Some claim that it was the new (since 11 December 1917) Conservative and authoritarian government led by the charismatic (and Germanophile - he had been Portuguese ambassador in Berlin from 1912 to 1916) Sidónio Pais who decided not to send the badly needed replacements and supplies. Others say that it was the British themselves who refused to ship the replacements from May 1917 onwards because the transports were needed to bring American and Canadian troops to Europe.

7. The 1st Brigade took its assigned place at the frontline by 30 May 1917, the 2nd Brigade by 16 June, the 3rd Brigade by 10 July, and the 4th Brigade by 23 September of the same year. Source: Ramalho de Mira.
8. Castro Henriques/Rosas Leitão - pg. 23 for the casualty figures, and pg. 61 for the CEP strength as of 9 April 1918.

"Gas masks were given to some of our troop today and we expect ours tomorrow or the next day. It's France for us now." So wrote Edwin Dyer from Camp Wadsworth in South Carolina on 11 December 1917. There's no way of knowing exactly what was going through the eighteen-year-old's mind as he wrote that in a letter to his sister almost 80 years ago, but reading the letter with the knowledge of his fate gives those two lines a particular sadness. Within a few years, Ed and millions of others like him would be victims of the slow death wrought by gas warfare which began when the Germans introduced it against the French and British at Ypres, Belgium in 1915.

Letters such as this stir up a world of questions about what life was like for those who fought so gallantly and often gave their lives for their country in war. Many families include heroes like Edwin Dyer, and stories about their time in service to their country can really enrich a family history.

Their letters to family tell much about them personally. For instance, Edwin's letters reveal a cheerful personality. He was always teasing and forever begging for letters, photographs, and "eats" (especially cake). The fact that he wrote almost weekly (sometimes more) reflects a closeness to his family.

Let trouwens op: General Allenby’s entry into Jerusalem. Although at the time he was still serving with Emir Feisal, Lawrence was present at Allenby’s formal entry into Jerusalem on 11 December 1917 following the capture of the city by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. Holding this to be ‘the greatest moment of the war’, Lawrence borrowed a British uniform and was briefly captured with other staff officers on the newsreel that recorded this momentous event.

I entered the city officially at noon, December 11th, with a few of my staff, the commanders of the French and Italian detachments, the heads of the political missions, and the Military Attaches of France, Italy, and America.

The procession was all afoot, and at Jaffa gate I was received by the guards representing England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, India, France, and Italy. The population received me well.

The most difficult year of the war was 1917. Industrial unrest resulted in the most serious strike in New South Wales since the 1890s, and it was put down with severity by the State government. By November the worsening situation of the Australian Imperial Force in France and a sustained drop in recruitment persuaded the government that conscription was essential to providing reinforcements.

In view of his promise during the election campaign, Hughes was compelled to call another referendum. After an even more bitter campaign than the year before, with Catholic Archbishop Daniel Mannix a leading anti-conscriptionist, the referendum was held on 11 December 1917. Again, the government’s proposals were defeated.

Hughes had pledged during the referendum campaign that his government would not attempt to carry on without the powers to conscript. After being refused those powers, his position was precarious.

“The Creeds of the Devil”: Churchill between the Two Totalitarianisms, 1917-1945

Churchill was Minister of Munitions from 18 July 1917 to 9 January 1919. His perception of the “stab in the back” syndrome was not that of the German Left forcing defeat on an unvanquished army; it was that of the Bolsheviks betraying their Western allies by accepting a separate peace with the Central Powers (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, 3 March 1918).

In a speech given at the Connaught Rooms on 11 April 1919, he arraigned them as traitors:

Every British and French soldier killed last year was really done to death by Lenin and Trotsky, not in fair war, but by the treacherous desertion of an ally without parallel in the history of the world

This was taking up in much stronger terms the regrets expressed when he spoke of the Russian withdrawal from the war in a speech at Bedford on 11 December 1917:

It is this melancholy event which has prolonged the war, that has robbed the French, the British and the Italian armies of the prize that was perhaps almost within their reach this summer; it is this event, and this event alone, that has exposed us to perils and sorrows and sufferings which we have not deserved, which we cannot avoid, but under which we shall not bend

Finally, on behalf of his various relatives who were British subjects he relinquished the use of all German titles and styles, and adopted British-sounding surnames. George compensated several of his male relatives by making them British peers. Thus, overnight his cousin, Prince Louis of Battenberg, became Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, while his brother-in-law, the Duke of Teck, became Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge. Others, such as Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, simply stopped using their territorial designations. In Letters Patent gazetted on 11 December 1917, the King restricted the style "His (or Her) Royal Highness" and the titular dignity of "Prince (or Princess) of Great Britain and Ireland" to the children of the Sovereign, the children of the sons of the Sovereign, and the eldest living son of the eldest living son of a Prince of Wales.

I was born at Kislovodsk on 11th December, 1918. My father had studied philological subjects at Moscow University, but did not complete his studies, as he enlisted as a volunteer when war broke out in 1914. He became an artillery officer on the German front, fought throughout the war and died in the summer of 1918, six months before I was born. I was brought up by my mother, who worked as a shorthand-typist, in the town of Rostov on the Don, where I spent the whole of my childhood and youth, leaving the grammar school there in 1936. Even as a child, without any prompting from others, I wanted to be a writer and, indeed, I turned out a good deal of the usual juvenilia. (...)

- Left Tournai at 7a.m and entrained and went back to Lille, detrained and marched through Arras Gate across the city of Lille through the Gate of St Andre, entrained at St Andre station passed through Roubaix, Tourcoing, Menen and reached Courtrai about midnight.

I hear the bells from yon imposing tower;
The bells of Yuletide o’er a troubled night;
Pealing with mock’ry in a dismal hour
Upon a world upheav’d with greed and fright.

Their mellow tones on myriad roofs resound;
A million restless souls attend the chime;
Yet falls their message on a stony ground—
Their spirit slaughter’d with the sword of Time.

Why ring in counterfeit of happy years
When calm and quiet rul’d the placid plain?
Why with familiar strains arouse the tears
Of those who ne’er may know content again?

How well I knew ye once—so long ago—
When slept the ancient village on the slope;
Then rang your accents o’er the starlit snow
In gladness, peace, and sempiternal hope.

In fancy yet I view the modest spire;
The peaked roof, cast dark against the moon;
The Gothic windows, glowing with a fire
That lent enchantment to the brazen tune.

Lovely each snow-drap’d hedge beneath the beams
That added silver to the silver there;
Graceful each col, each lane, and all the streams,
And glad the spirit of the pine-ting’d air.

A simple creed the rural swains profess’d;
In simple bliss among the hills they dwelt;
Their hearts were light, their honest souls at rest,
Cheer’d with the joys by reas’ning mortals felt.

But on the scene a hideous blight intrudes;
A lurid nimbus hovers o’er the land;
Demoniac shapes low’r black above the woods,
And by each door malignant shadows stand.

The jester Time stalks darkly thro’ the mead;
Beneath his tread contentment dies away.
Hearts that were light with causeless anguish bleed,
And restless souls proclaim his evil sway.

Conflict and change beset the tott’ring world;
Wild thoughts and fancies fill the common mind;
Confusion on a senile race is hurl’d,
And crime and folly wander unconfin’d.

I HEAR THE BELLS—THE MOCKING, CURSED BELLS
THAT WAKE DIM MEMORIES TO HAUNT AND CHILL;
RINGING AND RINGING O’ER A THOUSAND HELLS—
FIENDS OF THE NIGHT—WHY CAN YE NOT BE STILL?

—H. PAGET LOWE

Before quitting the subject of Loveman and horror stories, I must relate the frightful dream I had the night after I received S.L.’s latest letter. We have lately been discussing weird tales at length, and he has recommended several hair-raising books to me; so that I was in the mood to connect him with any thought of hideousness or supernatural terror. I do not recall how this dream began, or what it was really all about. There remains in my mind only one damnably blood-curdling fragment whose ending haunts me yet.
We were, for some terrible yet unknown reason, in a very strange and very ancient cemetery—which I could not identify. I suppose no Wisconsinite can picture such a thing—but we have them in New-England; horrible old places where the slate stones are graven with odd letters and grotesque designs such as a skull and crossbones. In some of these places one can walk a long way without coming upon any grave less than an hundred and fifty years old. Some day, when Cook issues that promised MONADNOCK, you will see my tale “The Tomb”, which was inspired by one of these places. Such was the scene of my dream—a hideous hollow whose surface was covered with a coarse, repulsive sort of long grass, above which peeped the shocking stones and markers of decaying slate. In a hillside were several tombs whose facades were in the last stages of decrepitude. I had an odd idea that no living thing had trodden that ground for many centuries till Loveman and I arrived. It was very late in the night—probably in the small hours, since a waning crescent moon had attained considerable height in the east. Loveman carried, slung over his shoulder, a portable telephone outfit; whilst I bore two spades. We proceeded directly to a flat sepulchre near the centre of the horrible place, and began to clear away the moss-grown earth which had been washed down upon it by the rains of innumerable years. Loveman, in the dream, looked exactly like the snap-shots of himself which he has sent me—a large, robust young man, not the least Semitic in features (albeit dark), and very handsome save for a pair of protruding ears. We did not speak as he laid down his telephone outfit, took a shovel, and helped me clear away the earth and weeds. We both seemed very much impressed with something—almost awestruck. At last we completed these preliminaries, and Loveman stepped back to survey the sepulchre. He seemed to know exactly what he was about to do, and I also had an idea—though I cannot now remember what it was! All I recall is that we were following up some idea which Loveman had gained as the result of extensive reading in some old rare books, of which he possessed the only existing copies. (Loveman, you may know, has a vast library of rare first editions and other treasures precious to the bibliophile’s heart.) After some mental estimates, Loveman took up his shovel again, and using it as a lever, sought to pry up a certain slab which formed the top of the sepulchre. He did not succeed, so I approached and helped him with my own shovel. Finally we loosened the stone, lifted it with our combined strength, and heaved it away. Beneath was a black passageway with a flight of stone steps; but so horrible were the miasmic vapours which poured up from the pit, that we stepped back for a while without making further observations. Then Loveman picked up the telephone output and began to uncoil the wire—speaking for the first time as he did so.
“I’m really sorry”, he said in a mellow, pleasant voice; cultivated, and not very deep, “to have to ask you to stay above ground, but I couldn’t answer for the consequences if you were to go down with me. Honestly, I doubt if anyone with a nervous system like yours could see it through. You can’t imagine what I shall have to see and do—not even from what the book said and from what I have told you—and I don’t think anyone without ironclad nerves could ever go down and come out of that place alive and sane. At any rate, this is no place for anybody who can’t pass an army physical examination. I discovered this thing, and I am responsible in a way for anyone who goes with me—so I would not for a thousand dollars let you take the risk. But I’ll keep you informed of every move I make by the telephone—you see I’ve enough wire to reach to the centre of the earth and back!”
I argued with him, but he replied that if I did not agree, he would call the thing off and get another fellow-explorer—he mentioned a “Dr. Burke,” a name altogether unfamiliar to me. He added, that it would be of no use for me to descend alone, since he was sole possessor of the real key to the affair. Finally I assented, and seated myself upon a marble bench close by the open grave, telephone in hand. He produced an electric lantern, prepared the telephone wire for unreeling, and disappeared down the damp stone steps, the insulated wire rustling as it uncoiled. For a moment I kept track of the glow of his lantern, but suddenly it faded out, as if there were a turn in the stone staircase. Then all was still. After this came a period of dull fear and anxious waiting. The crescent moon climbed higher, and the mist or fog about the hollow seemed to thicken. Everything was horribly damp and bedewed, and I thought I saw an owl flitting somewhere in the shadows. Then a clicking sounded in the telephone receiver.
“Lovecraft—I think I’m finding it”—the words came in a tense, excited tone. Then a brief pause, followed by more words in a tone of ineffable awe and horror.
“God, Lovecraft! If you could see what I am seeing!” I now asked in great excitement what had happened. Loveman answered in a trembling voice:
“I can’t tell you—I don’t dare—I never dreamed of this—I can’t tell—It’s enough to unseat any mind———wait————what’s this?” Then a pause, a clicking in the receiver, and a sort of despairing groan. Speech again—
“Lovecraft—for God’s sake—it’s all up—Beat it! Beat it! Don’t lose a second!” I was now thoroughly alarmed, and frantically asked Loveman to tell what the matter was. He replied only “Never mind! Hurry!” Then I felt a sort of offence through my fear—it irked me that anyone should assume that I would be willing to desert a companion in peril. I disregarded his advice and told him I was coming down to his aid. But he cried:
“Don’t be a fool—it’s too late—there’s no use—nothing you or anyone can do now.” He seemed calmer—with a terrible, resigned calm, as if he had met and recognised an inevitable, inescapable doom. Yet he was obviously anxious that I should escape some unknown peril.
“For God’s sake get out of this, if you can find the way! I’m not joking—So long, Lovecraft, won’t see you again—God! Beat it! Beat it!” As he shrieked out the last words, his tone was a frenzied crescendo. I have tried to recall the wording as nearly as possible, but I cannot reproduce the tone. There followed a long—hideously long—period of silence. I tried to move to assist Loveman, but was absolutely paralysed. The slightest motion was an impossibility. I could speak, however, and kept calling excitedly into the telephone—“Loveman! Loveman! What is it? What’s the trouble?” But he did not reply. And then came the unbelievably frightful thing—the awful, unexplainable, almost unmentionable thing. I have said that Loveman was now silent, but after a vast interval of terrified waiting another clicking came into the receiver. I called “Loveman—are you there?” And in reply came a voice—a thing which I cannot describe by any words I know. Shall I say that it was hollow—very deep—fluid—gelatinous—indefinitely distant—unearthly—guttural—thick? What shall I say? In that telephone I heard it; heard it as I sat on a marble bench in that very ancient unknown cemetery with the crumbling stones and tombs and long grass and dampness and the owl and the waning crescent moon. Up from the sepulchre it came, and this is what it said:
“YOU FOOL, LOVEMAN IS DEAD!”
Well, that’s the whole damn thing! I fainted in the dream, and the next I knew I was awake—and with a prize headache! I don’t know yet what it was all about—what on (or under) earth we were looking for, or what that hideous voice at the last was supposed to be. I have read of ghouls—mould shades—but hell—the headache I had was worse than the dream! Loveman will laugh when I tell him about that dream! In due time, I intend to weave this picture into a story, as I wove another dream-picture into “The Doom that Came to Sarnath”. I wonder, though, if I have a right to claim authorship of things I dream? I hate to take credit, when I did not really think out the picture with my own conscious wits. Yet if I do not take credit, who’n Heaven will I give credit tuh? Coleridge claimed “Kubla Khan”, so I guess I’ll claim the thing an’ let it go at that. But believe muh, that was some dream!!
Well, God rest you, Merry Gentlemen, may nothing you dismay.
Your affectionate Grandfather,
M. LOLLIVS. TIBALDVS

Mr. HOGGE asked the Prime Minister whether he can now state when the Treaty of Peace with Germany will be ratified?

Mr. A. T. DAVIES asked the Lord Privy Seal if he is in a position to say when the Peace Treaty between Germany and the Allies will be fully ratified; and if he can explain the reasons for the delay?

Mr. BONAR LAW Negotiations are in progress between the Allied Governments and the German Government as to the formal exchange of ratifications, and a Note was presented to the German Peace Delegation on 8th December warning them that the Allies desire the final deposit of ratifications to be made without further delay.

Mr. HOGGE Will the right hon. Gentleman say whether he thinks, or anticipates, those will be complied with before we rise for the Recess?

Mr. BONAR LAW It is rather rash, I think, to prophesy, but I strongly hope

German soldiers buried in marked graves (...) were moved into large “collecting” cemeteries. The soldiers named on the graves in this particular photograph were exhumed and reburied. They now lie in the German military cemetery at Vladslo in Belgium.

The grave of Pionier Karl Bürkle, whose original headstone is now preserved at the Sanctuary Wood museum (Ypres), was exhumed when the battlefields near Ypres were cleared. He died on 11th December 1914 and was buried on or near the battlefield. His comrades presumably made a gravestone from the concrete that they had in supply. At the end of 1914 the German army was beginning to build concrete defences in the early stages of the development of static trench warfare in the Ypres sector. Karl Bürkle is one of many hundreds of thousands of German soldiers to have been exhumed and reburied in a formal German military cemetery. He now rests in the German military cemetery at Menen, in Belgium. His grave location reference is Block O, Grave number 439.

Major Keith Logan Caldwell of New Zealand was born in 1895 and was one who transferred from the Infantry to the Flying Corps after Gallipoli. From flight training in Britain, in July 1916 he was posted to 8 Squadron patrolling the battlefields of France.

When he successfully shot down a German Rowland C11 over Grevillers-Bucquoy on 18 September 1916; his first victory demonstrated that he was a talented pilot; though his poor marksmanship would cost him many opportunities.

The kiwi was reassigned to fly a Nieuport Scout with 60 Squadron in November 1916. On 11th December he forced down a German Albatross C behind Allied lines and was said to have met and had a celebration beer with the German pilot prisoner. It wasn’t until 14th June 1917 before ‘Grid’ Caldwell gained his third victory over Drocourt; downing a new Albatross D111 piloted by the German Ace Hermann Becker, who survived to fight another day.

On 24th June 1917 while on patrol over Douai, Caldwell spotted a flight of four German Albatross D111s and engaged them in a Dogfight. When he succeeded in downing the leading Albatross; Grid Caldwell became an Ace. No time to celebrate though as his squadron mate was being attacked by the other three Germans. So he attacked the Albatross on his mate’s tail and scored another victory and his pay for the day; as the remaining Germans broke off the fight. With yet another three ‘kills’ Caldwell returned to Britain as a flight instructor in October 1917.

In April 1918 Grid Caldwell was again back in France; but now as the commanding officer of 74 Squadron, flying S.E. 5a biplanes. Before the end of the war, he had experienced a mid air collision and scored yet another 16 aerial victories. Major Keith Logan Caldwell or ‘Grid’ to his mates; survived the war and will forever be; New Zealand’s Top World War 1 Flying Ace. He married the sister of another kiwi ace; Frederick Stanley Gordon and enjoyed the quiet life of farming until once again he was destined fly fighting planes. This quiet achiever loved flying so much that he also served in the RNZAF during World War 2, inspiring younger kiwis who saluted him as Air Commodore Caldwell MC, DFC, CBE.

Letter written on December 11, 1918 from Montgomery Alabama to Surgeon General Rupert Blue by Robert Oleson.

Alabama: "Sir: I have the honor to forward herewith two newspaper clippings, one from the Montgomery Advertiser, the other from the Journal. It will be noted that the local press has made capital out of the statement purporting to come from the Surgeon General of the PHS, particularly laying stress upon the sentence, "the country need not fear that the influenza epidemic will return. It has come and gone for good." Inasmuch as Montgomery is at present in the throes of a serious outbreak of influenza the Service representative has been endeavoring to have reasonable restrictions imposed for the protection of well people. All efforts to use the newspapers for educative measures have proved unavailing. In view of the statement from Washington the local newspapers and a few citizens take the stand that the undersigned is out of touch with headquarters and that the measures he has proposed are preposterous. In consequence thereof the handling of the local situation has been rendered much more difficult.

Order by the Chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic to the Red Army and the Red Navy, December 11, 1918.

It is known to all soldiers, to all sailors, and indeed, to all citizens, what serious and responsible work has been and is being done by Communist comrades in the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. Recently there have been cases, however, in which individual Communists have behaved unworthily, failing to act against pillage, not showing proper courage, and so on. Such Communists are unworthy of the name they bear and are merely persons who have wormed their way into a great calling. The Communist soldier has the same rights as any other soldier, and not a hair’s breadth more: he only has incomparably more duties. The Communist soldier must be an exemplary warrior, he must always be in the forefront of the battle, he must try to lead others to the places of greatest danger, he must be a model of discipline, conscientiousness and courage. At the front and in the rear he must offer others an example of careful treatment of public property in general and army property in particular. Only such a model soldier has the right to the name of Communist: otherwise he is a wretched pretender who must be called to account with twofold severity. I require the political departments of all the armies of the Soviet Republic to pay close attention to the conduct of Communists and thoroughly and in good time to clear the field of weeds.

Prince Hussein, uncle of Khedive, rumored about to be proclaimed by British as Sultan of Egypt. If occurrence transpires and if diplomatic agents invited to be present at the ceremony, telegraph instructions in view of attitude of Turkey toward Egypt.

Daily Telegraph December 11 1915: No peace in sight, and the Telegraph blames the Germans for this

“The German nation is longing for peace with its whole heart.” A leader on page 8 draws an unlikely-sounding conclusion from the debate in the Reichstag on peace conditions, which apparently arrived too late for the previous day’s paper and thus appears on page 9 today, and goes on to argue that “an intelligent people cannot face with any satisfaction the indefinite continuance of a struggle every additional day of which makes matters worse,” but their deluded rulers are so convinced of victory that they are unable to do the right thing by their countrymen. “Meanwhile our statesmen spare us such enthusiastic assurances of our own invincibility as the Imperial Chancellor still thinks likely to inspirit his now rather pensive countrymen,” it goes on to claim, which would be all well and good, but how many setbacks have been camouflaged so far by the Allies, and how often have we heard statesmen and indeed the Telegraph talk of victory being a foregone conclusion for them? What’s the difference? Indeed, it could be argued that what the Telegraph’s leader has to say about Bethmann-Hollweg and what Bethmann-Hollweg had to say in the Reichstag about the Allies are but two sides of a same coin…

1. THE Chief of the Imperial General Staff reported that while the greater part of the British Reinforcements that we had undertaken to send to Salonica had arrived there,The transport of French Reinforcements. the French were still very behind as only part of the first two divisions they had agreed to send had arrived. Some 7,00 British Drafts still have to be sent, but the French force at Salonica is short of some 50,000 drafts.

The First Sea Lord said that the French had asked for the loan of five troop-ships and four horse transports; they had requisitioned all their own available shipping, having taken up twenty-nine extra ships, and still had to find seven hospital ships. The Admiralty had looked into the question and found it impossible to lend the five troop-ships. The War Office had been asked if they could spare four of our horse transports if we did not send any more divisions to Salonica, but had not yet replied.

The War Cabinet decided that the Admiralty and War Office should concert arrangements to lend four horse transports to the French Government, subject to the condition we could recall them if we needed them ourselves.

People throughout the province mourned the death of Albert Lacombe, known to everyone as Father Lacombe, or Pere Lacombe. It’s not what the 89-year-old Catholic missionary is most remembered for, but as a pioneer who had moved to Alberta 67 years earlier, he was the first man to guide a ploughshare through Alberta soil.

Gaelic League and Politics
At a recent meeting of the Council an application for the use of the hall for Irish classes was granted unanimously, and he thought it his duty then to express the hope that no contentious subjects would be introduced, and that the classes would be used solely for the teaching of the Irish language, and he stated his reasons.

Arising out of the discussion, he had read a report of a meeting of the Cork Gaelic League. In reply to their invitation, he would say that so far as the country was concerned, he did not feel called upon to show that what he stated was pure fact. The people had long since ceased to regard the Gaelic League as what it was – non-political and non-sectarian. They looked upon it as what it appeared to be to-day – one of the most intensely political organisations and a libel on the language movement of 20 years ago.

Actually, a Jerusalem delegation, led by the mayor, surrendered the city to a pair of British army cooks on December 8. Thus began a comical farce of who received the surrender of the Holy City.

The Turkish army and their German commanders had fled the city ahead of the British advance, leaving the city officials nervously waiting for the liberators.

The first uniformed men to arrive were privates Andrews and Church, two cooks who got lost while searching for cooking water. They wandered near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City and were confronted by a large delegation of city officials. The cooks were so scared they ran back to their unit.

13 African-American soldiers were hanged for their participation in the Houston Riot of 1917.

The Houston Riot of 1917, or Camp Logan Riot, was a mutiny by 156 African American soldiers of the Third Battalion of the all-black Twenty-fourth United States Infantry Regiment. It occupied most of one night, and resulted in the deaths of 4 soldiers and 16 civilians. The rioting soldiers were tried at three courts-martial.

A total of 19 would be executed, and 41 were given life sentences.

THE HANGINGS: The condemned soldiers (1 sergeant, 4 corporals and 8 privates) were transferred to a barracks on December 10. That evening, motor trucks carried new lumber for scaffolds to some bathhouses built for the soldiers at Camp Travis near a swimming pool in the Salado Creek. The designated place of execution was several hundred yards away. Army engineers completed their work by the light of bonfires.

The 13 condemned men were awakened on December 11th at 5am and brought to the gallows. They were hanged simultaneously, at 7.17am, one minute before sunrise. The scaffolds were disassembled and every piece returned to Fort Sam Houston.

The New York Times, impressed by the clean-up operations, observed the place of execution and place of burial were “indistinguishable.” Only army officers and County Sheriff John Tobin had been allowed to witness the execution.

Gen. Ruckman told reporters he had personally approved the death sentences and said that forty-one soldiers had been given life sentences and four received sentences of two and a half years or less. He said he was the one who chose the time and place for the executions.

I haven't had a letter from you for a century. It has been three days since I wrote one so I guess I shouldn't make any fuss about it, but you don't know how pleased I am to get your letters. When the post office boy brings one of them down here he always gets all the candy, apples, and pop he wants. There's never any delay after they arrive here. I have written three letters home in the last two weeks and they haven't received any of them. At least I had a letter from Mary yesterday and she did not write as if she had heard from me for a month. I sent her a wire Wednesday and got an answer to that. I guess they must be holding up our mail. I am going to take this one to Lawton and mail it myself. I was hoping to see you Saturday. A whole bunch of K. C. people were down visiting their friends and relatives. Boxley and Ferson were both down. I sent you a Battery picture by Ferson. I am mailing you a picture of the officers of the 129th. They all look fine and fat especially the second one from the left end. I went out and stayed all night in the trenches Thursday night and all day Friday. We put on a real imitation battle. It was pretty cold sleeping on the ground but I don't think it hurt anyone. I felt better the day after than I did the day before.

They have been auditing the canteen to see if they can send me to jail but I reckon they won't catch me this time. I showed a profit of $5560.00 for sixty day period, which isn't so worse considering that I have only a $5000.00 stock.

Mr. Lee, Father Tiernan and I went over to Major Gates for dinner this evening and we sure had a fine time. Lee and I had been over before and Mrs. Gates was out for dinner on Friday and I asked her if I could bring Lee and pay our party call and she said "yes, come to dinner." Father Tiernan was standing by and got himself included and we had a nice party.

I met the Col just as I was leaving camp and had a new suit of woolen O.D. that old man Marks made after I left. He made me take off my coat and then went and ordered one like it. He said he couldn't expect all his Lieutenants to dress that well until they had had a chance to run the canteen a while. I have lost about ninety dollars of my own money in the devilish thing making change to I guess they wouldn't buy many clothes.

I hope you can come down some time soon. The Col. talked like there might be a slim chance of my going home Christmas for a few days but I don't put any faith in it.

Jacobson has gone to Okla City and I will have to stay close to the canteen tomorrow and watch my cash.

Mamma and Mary are coming down Friday. I'll sure be glad to see them.

I hope that Christmas Mass will be a fact.

Tell your mother that I am looking for the right kind of a fellow to get her box. It is a hard matter to pick them out because the ones that are worthy of it are so stiff necked and I can't find out about them and the other kind do not deserve anything. I am investigating a case now that will fill the bill I think. Will let you know as soon as I can.

There isn't any gossip or scandal that I know of down here that would make good reading anyway. I am so darned busy I don't know what goes on half the time.